Corporate news: Apr 2008

e-Learning portal from Hyderabad
Hyderabad based IT education company SQL Star, launched an e-Learning portal which aims to promote systematic changes in the current teaching-learning paradigms in Indian education.

The portal, thelearningport.com, is a comprehensive learning solution aimed at reducing the gap between student readiness and employer expectations of an industry-ready workforce, the Hyderabad-based company said.

Speaking to media persons here, SQL Star Chairman and Managing Director N R Ganti said the programme has been modelled to deliver a blended model of offline and online education. Being online in a world without borders would facilitate collaboration among peers and between students and industry, he said, adding the series of courses offered are a combination of domain knowledge and soft skills training.

The shortage of skilled manpower in the IT industry is a critical barrier to the growth of Indian economy. The only way to overcome it is by facilitating societal transformation by equipping the workforce with 21st century employability skills so that it is ready to compete in the global e-Learning.

Student e-Tutors make easy bucks
There’s a new way to earn as you learn. If you are a student of math or science and have decent communication skills, you can make upto Rs 17,000 a month e-Tutoring kids in America and Europe.

Educational process outsourcing is enabling over 100 Delhi students rake in handsome dividends from a few hours spent answering queries and clearing doubts. Manya Education Private Limited, an e-tutoring firm, recently began campus recruitment in IIT-Delhi, Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia. Academically strong students from the Sciences stream were shortlisted and subsequently trained for a month.

The e-Tutoring model requires these student-teachers to log on to a chat-based software and answer queries from students in the US and Europe. For an average four-hour session, they earn between INR12,000 and INR 17,000, depending on competency.

Beginning with Math, Physics and Chemistry, Manya Education plans to include social sciences lessons. Students-teachers can draw diagrams and figures using the software and transfer files if required.

IBM completes e-Learning programme
International Business Machines Corporations (IBM) announced its successful completion of Phase 3 of EDU-SAT satellite based educational programme in Karnataka in collaboration with Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaun (VTU).

The programme comprises 100 hours of live lectures transmitted to over 100 schools in the state and were attended by 15,000 students. The programme aims at equipping post graduates with the necessary technical knowledge and skills so that they are better positioned to compete in the competitive market driven world. The course module includes courses like System Z, Java, Web 2.0, Eclipse, Cell Architecture, SOA, High Performance Computing, Linux, DB2, Autonomic Computing, Rational, AIX, and Enterprise Applications.

IBM is working towards the consistent expansion of India’s IT ecosystem and its University Realations team has been cooperating with the academia to evolve open standards-based IT skills, developing strategic linkages with universities while assisting with curriculum development and instructional material, helping colleges develop consistent and high quality curricula for leading and emerging technologies, promoting high quality education and evangelizing Open Standards technologies which is crucial for the future of IT industry.

Intel donates 300 PCs to the Chhattisgarh State
Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd. today marked the first anniversary of the Intel Teach program in Chhattisgarh by donating 300 PCs to the State government for the benefit of government-run schools.The Intel Teach Programme is an educator development programme that aims at effectively integrating the use of technology in the classroom to facilitate and enhance teaching and student learning.

The program till now, has trained over 2,000 teachers in Chhattisgarh, who in turn have reached 3,60,000 students, enabling them to take up socially relevant issues along with helping them improve their communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills. The Chhattisgarh government in collaboration with Intel will work towards equipping uninitiated teachers into using technology and through this public-private cooperation, they plan to train 7,000 teachers in the next two years, and adopt various schools for Technology Aided Learning implementation.

With the donation of 250 computers and 50 Classmate PCs, Intel aims to extend its World Ahead Program to Ashramshalas and girls schools. Over 50 schools in Chhattisgarh will benefit, with each school receiving minimum of five PCs. The PCs will be wireless-enabled and supported with Internet connectivity and basic software applications along with digital educational resources. In India, Intel plans to donate 10,000 PCs to state governments and teacher training institutions and train one million teachers in technology application. As a result, Intel expects to help more than 30 million students across India. In India, the Intel Teach Program has currently impacted over 8.40 lakh teachers across 15 states governments, two Union territories, 40 teacher education universities and central government schools like Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya. Under the Intel Learn Program, the company has reached out to nearly 40,000 students in India.

Edurite Tutorials launched in Bangalore and Karnataka
World’s premier online tutoring company TutorVista.com and its subsidiary Edurite Technologies announced the launch of its tutoring centers in India. TutorVista.com that teaches 10,000 students in USA and UK through a network of 600 teachers across the country has now made a foray into India with Edurite Tutorials – a technology driven tuition and test preparation center.

Edurite Tutorials has launched its services in Karnataka with seven centers in Bangalore and 11 centers spread across semi-urban districts of Karnataka such as Hassan, Bijapur, Davanagere, Shimoga and so on. 10 more centers in Karnataka will be operational in the coming weeks. Edurite Tutorials will offer tuitions for CBSE syllabus – 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th plus All India Engineering Entrance Exams (AIEEE) as well as Karnataka State Board – 9th, SSLC, PUC and CET Entrance Exams covering subjects in Math and Science.

Edurite has undertaken studies which have proved beyond doubt that collaborative, technology enabled techniques have a better impact on the understanding of subjects and academic performance of students. The tutorials use multimedia tools to make subjects easier and interesting. Online LIVE teacher help is available 24×7 to clarify doubts and access large question banks containing previous year’s exam papers. Regular quizzes and tests are held to assess comprehension. The tutorial sessions are made interesting with concepts, animation, pictures, diagrams, practical sessions and quizzes.

“A total of 300 centers will be operating across India by end of 2009, which will be expanded to 500 centers in the next three years”, confirmed Srikanth Iyer, CEO – Edurite.

Rapid growth in corcorporate education

Institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) Jamshedpur have on paper about 30 executive education courses per year. This figure has doubled in the last few years as the amounts charged for each training programme has gone down by 60 %. This rise is also fuelled by rapid technological advancement around the globe, making it imperative for professionals from all walks of life learn new technologies and update and upgrade their knowledge, much after completing formal education in the college.  Moreover, there is a shortage of 20-40% in the leadership positions across sectors. Although many companies have found internal training to be a substitute, after a point it becomes expensive.

Harvard Business School (HBS) just completed its first five-day executive education programme in Hyderabad. If the course were to be taught at the Harvard campus, it would have cost USD 10,000 (around INR 400,000) upwards. However, an Indian executive gets it for as relatively low as INR 180,000.

At IIT-Kharagpur, XLRI Jamshedpur, and IIM Calcutta, around 200 executives take the executive education programmes every year, with course fee ranging between INR 5,000 and INR 35,000, with a few courses costing up to a couple of lakhs. For example, the Danish embassy of Dhaka had sent people for a four-month management course at IIT-KGP at a cost of approximately INR 60 lakh.

The level of importance of executive education has reached outside profit-oriented companies too. The Ranchi-based Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) too is in the process of drawing up a calendar of topics for training of non-government organisations (NGOs) keeping in mind the priorities of small and middle level NGOs. XISS executive education courses, usually range between INR 25,000 and INR 50,000, and address current topics and concerns ranging from general management to specific functional areas that include human resource, rural development, information management.

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